omega blog

Why we hate Internet Explorer 6

Today Internet Explorer 6 is every developer's nightmare. It lacks rendering consistency and it has limited CSS support. Firefox, Safari, Chrome and Opera supports a majority of CSS3 properties. This means developers can implement cool new features and CSS effects quickly. Because Internet Explorer 6 refuses to behave like other modern browsers do, developers have to incorporate Internet Explorer 6 specific 'hacks' in their code in an attempt to tame the veteran browser. Although this is a popular work-around, it's just not right because it makes the Gods at W3C very angry. Moreover, cross-browser testing and making a website in Internet Explorer 6 is time consuming, which means a developer has to spend more time fixing the site when a client insist on Internet Explorer 6 compatibility.

Will IE9 make a difference?

The final build of Internet Explorer 9 is expected to be released in 2011. All we have at the moment is an Internet Explorer 9 Platform preview rendering engine, something like a simulator showing us what Internet Explorer 9 can do. The test-drive version has done quite well, scoring 100% in a CSS3 selector test. Interestingly, Internet Explorer 8 scored only 60% in the same test. IE9 also boasts of a new scripting engine - 'Chakra', which clobbered the latest Firefox release in a SunSpider performance benchmark test. So things seem brighter for the lower-case E as of now. Will this lead to the much awaited eradication of Internet Explorer 6? Will clients realise that spending that extra money for 8% the internet users is not worth it? Only time will tell.

It can't multi-task. So if you want to listen to music while you're looking at your photos, you might as well sing or get someone to sing for you. The iPad has no USB, so transferring data in and out of your iPad is a bit of a pain. It does not support Flash, so websites offering flash video formats are out of bounds. The LED-backlit screen with In-Plane Switching (IPS) has been praised as 'crisp and sharp'. Unfortunately it is not as power efficient as OLED devices and it tends to be harder on the eyes (compared to the e-ink screen used in Kindle). In addition to the above mentioned, the iPad complaint box includes the fact that it's difficult to hold or carry around, it's slippery, it's heavy and it's missing a stylus.

It is true that the iPad is 3 times heavier than Kindle and Steve Jobs seems to have 'forgotten' to add a few frills to his latest baby. However, what everyone seems to have conveniently forgotten is that Apple never said they're making an eBook reader or a really powerful laptop. So then why should iPad be compared to Kindle or even a laptop. The iPad is a portable eBook reader which doubles-up as a mini-laptop. In fact, it is a laptop with no bells and whistles. Ideal for someone who reads a lot and uses a internet quite often. Although it seems debatable, the $500 price tag is just right, although you could get a Kindle and an iPod touch for that money.

Let me explain why. Twitter is a great tool for you to firstly find out what is being "spoken" about 'out there' in areas that interest you and secondly, promoting your own views and products through conversation. This is a very important point. Twitter is not a one way feed of information. It is not about sending out a weekly newsletter with "information" for the potential readers. It is about a two-way (or 20-way if you get involved in a twitter party) interaction. Not only do you get to provide your views, products, services to a large number of people around the globe, but you get to converse with them on how they feel about your views, products or services often times providing constructive feedback. And the same goes for you.

I have come across interesting blog articles, like 'Unplan your business' (original article here), that I would NEVER have found through the usual Google searches. I have interacted with other twitter users in conversations that are of a very personal and deep nature that have improved everyone's understanding of the topic at hand or at least provided a new perspective.

In order to be able to make sure that I keep the brand integrity of our business, I have separate accounts for myself, @RozBatson and for Neural Networks Consulting, @NNConsulting. My personal account is all about my interests and passions - running, motherhood, women in business, social media, wine and a myriad of other things. Meanwhile the @NNConsulting account is all about what Neural Networks Consulting does in the areas of performance based leadership, business strategy, sales and recruitment effectiveness programs. I send out sales tips, leadership blogs, recruitment advice, inspirational quotes, information on our learnings from current programs with some of our clients, strategy tips and theories, and the like.

Here and there I let our followers know about upcoming public programs such as the dates for our next Neuro Linguistic Programming Practitioner course. I retweet (sending on other people's tweets) blogs I have read that are aligned with our organisation philosophy, quotes I like, links to sites that provide particular services we support. I also get involved in twitter conversations on topics such as leading a strong life, or leading for change, and having a life on purpose. I have also had many experiences of people retweeting what I have said to their networks creating a ripple effect of influence that cannot be underestimated.

From the statistics, it looks like I have increased traffic to our website which can only be a good thing as we work on improving our online shop and available products. Twitter is a little world inside the larger online world. The like minded people that you can connect with in 140 characters (or less) is incredibly inspiring and can be a hell of a lot of fun, not to mention brilliant for building your brand and your business. If you want to talk more about my experience - happy to chat. You can have a read through one of my favourite blogs here

Six years later (that's now), Google plans to have about 10 million volumes of digital copies of various publications by 2015. It's obvious that many authors and publishers will raise an eyebrow (or maybe both) at this. So how does Google plan to keep them all quiet? With money of-course!

The court settlement requires Google to set up a $125 million Books Rights Registry. Authors have an option of opting in to be a part of the registry, giving the publication rights to Google. The authors would get a 'one-off' chunk from the $125 million but no proceeds from the sales of their publication thereafter. The authors who don't like the whole idea MUST opt out before January 2010 to ensure Google doesn't scan any of their publications.

If you're an author, the choice seems fairly simple - opt out and keep the right to yourself. However, knowing how Google web-services become popular, the authors stand a fair chance of losing out on sales anyway. Although Google is kind of breaching copyright laws by making money from someone else's work, they are making the world's information "universally accessible and useful" - one of their original mottos (ironically, the other one was "Don't be evil").

So if you're Dan Brown and you know people will pay for every book you write (even if they're just about destroying historical monuments to solve a puzzle), you'd opt out and keep your work away from the Stanford graduates. However, if you're an average literature graduate trying to make a name for yourself, you'd opt in to the Books Rights Registry to make a few quick bucks, get some free PR and help keep the world's information universally accessible and useful.